by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

 
1. Navarro Anderson Valley GWT Cuvee Traditional (13.6%; rs:0.59%, TA:0.68, pH:3.34) 2000: Medium-light gold color; lovely/fragrant very lychee/floral/hair-oil nose; off-dry spicy/ lychee/hair-oil/GWT tart flavor; very long off-dry very spicy/lychee/GWT/hair-oil finish; a classic Dolly Parton/up-front GWT; ready to drink at a good price. $10.00
2. Navarro Anderson Valley GWT Dry (13.7%; rs:0.45%, TA:0.67, pH:3.32) 2000: Med.gold color; more subtle/closed some perfumed talc/cinammon/spicy/less fruit nose; softer bit drier perfumed talc/cinammon/spicy slight piney rather Trimbach-like GWT flavor; med.long soft off-dry spicy/cinammon/perfumed talc/piney low-key finish; more traditional  Trimbach/Navarro in style; good price. $12.00 
3. Navarro Anderson Valley Pinot Gris (13.6%; rs:0.34%, TA:0.75, pH:3.32) 2000: Med.light gold  color; fragrant/floral/minerally/spicy nose; soft rich lush glycerined/floral/minerally slight fruity/pineapply very Alsatian flavor; very long soft/lush floral/minerally/spicy finish; attractive fairly Alsatian-style PG.
4. Navarro Anderson Valley Sauvignon Blanc Cuvee 128 (13.6%; rs:0.37%, TA:0.75, pH:3.34) 2000: Med. gold color; very strong fragrant/herbal/cat pee classic NZ/SauvBlanc nose; off-dry bit metallic cat pee/herbal/grapefruity fragrant flavor; med.long cat pee/herbal/spicy/ floral finish; rather NewZealand-like SB w/o the bracing acidity.
5. Navarro Mendocino Chard TW (13.0%; rs: 0.38%; TA:0.71; pH:3.63) 2000: Med.light gold color; strong cinammon/appley/fragrant/spicy bit simple light toasty/oak/pencilly nose; soft buttery/cinammon/appley/Chard/celery light pencilly/Fr.oak flavor; med. pencilly/oak light appley/cinammon/celery/Chard finish; nicely done if simple Chard at a great price. $8.75 
6. Navarro Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Methode Ancienne (13.6%; TA:0.69, pH: 3.70) 1999: Med.light color; some toasty/oaked bit dusty light/bright/cherry/Pinot bit simple nose; tart spicy bit simple light/bright cherry/cherry KoolAid some taosty/Fr.oaked flavor; med.long light toasty/Fr.oak/pungent light cherry/bright finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant Burgundian-style Pinot but rather light and lacking grip.
7. Navarro Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Deep End Blend (14%) 1999: Med.dark color; lovely toasty/Fr. oaked/pungent/smokey/Burgundian deep black cherry/cherry some dusty complex very fragrant nose; rich/lovely loads of fruit/black cherry/spicy rather toasty/Fr.oak spicy/complex flavor; very long some tannic deep/black cherry/very spicy bit dusty complex some toasty/ Fr.oaked/pungent/smokey finish; needs several yrs; loads of deep black cherry fruit; a terrific Anderson  Valley Pinot.
8. Navarro Mendocino Zin (14.7%; TA:0.59, pH:3.94) 1999: Med.light color; rather cinammon/ oaked/toasty low fruit/raspberry simple nose; tart bit thin/light lean/hard cinammon/ spicy light raspberry/dusty flavor; med. light raspberry/earthy/dusty some toasty/ cinammon/oak/spicy finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant/simple Zin w/ not a lot of fruit.
9. Navarro GWT Vineyard Select Late Harvest (11.4%; RS: 12.6%; TA:0.90, pH:3.30) 2000: Med.dark gold color; some peachy/botrytis/honeyed Auslese-like/pineapply lots of ripe fruit nose;  soft/rich some botrytis/peachy/honey rather floral/spicy loads of fruit flavor; long/ lush/rich sweet honey/botrytis/peachy ripe/pineapply/floral finish; loads of ripe fruit and some botrytis; very Auslese-like GWT; a steal at $14.00/$22.00.
10. Domaine Alain Paret Rochecourbe St.Joseph (12.5%) 1999: Med.dark color; very strong/ pungent/black pepper very spicy/smokey slight green olive complex nose; hard/tannic very black pepper/pungent espresso/roasted/green olive dusty/old vines tannic flavor; very long pungent/black pepper roasted/smokey/pungent/espresso finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; loads of black pepper character; well-structured; terrific St.Joseph at $25.00 (Larry's mystery)
11. Turley Lodi Zin DogtownVineyard (16.3%) 1999: Very dark color; very intense blackberry slight funky/earthy/mushroomy light toasty/oaked spicy nose; soft/rich/ripe blackberry/ boysenberry mushroomy/earthy light toasty/Fr.oak flavor; very long ripe/blackberry/ boysenberry earthy/mushroomy/Lodi finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; loads of ripe blackberry fruit w/ that underlying Lodi/earthy character; one of the best Lodi Zins around.
12. Turley Howell Mtn Zin PringleFamilyVineyard (16.1%) 1999: Very dark color; intense dusty/old vine peppery/earthy light blackberry/Zin very spicy classic HM Zin light toasty/oak nose; hard/tannic/earthy dusty/old vines acid/tart very peppery/complex light/toasty/oak flavor; very long hard/tannic light blackberry light toasty/oak quite peppery/dusty/old vine finish; needs much age.
13. Turley Napa Valley Zin Moore "Earthquake" Vineyard (16.4%) 1999: Very dark color; very intense blackberry/boysenberry ripe/jammy/spicy bit alcoholic very light toasty/oak nose; soft/lush very ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/jammy loads of ripe fruit light toasty/Fr.oak some tannic bit hot/alcoholic flavor; very long very ripe/jammy/blackberry/boysenberry light toasty/oaked finish w/ fair tannins; lots of very ripe fruit but should age well.
14. Turley Napa Valley Zin Hayne Vineyard (16.0%) 1999: Very dark color; very intense blackberry/ boysenberry complex/dusty/old vines very spicy/fragrant more toasty/oak nose; huge/rich intense blackberry/boysenberry complex dusty/old vines some toasty/pungent/oaked bit alcoholic flavor; very long/lingering intense blackberry/boysenberry loads of fruit dusty/old vines some toasty/oak finish w/ ample tannins; needs much age; not as much overripe character as the Moore. Yikes at $75.00.
15. Turley Napa Valley PS Hayne Vineyard (15.2%) 1999: Totally black color; intense Phillips Milk-of- Magnesia/chalky very ripe rather earthy/dusty bit peppery/boysenberry nose; very hard/ tannic chalky/milk-of-magnesia peppery/spicy some blackberry structured light toasty/oak flavor; very long/lingering tannic/extracted strange/milk-of-magnesia peppery/blackberry light toasty/oak huge/mouthfilling finish; needs much age; a bit like a closed version of the DavidBruce LateHarvest PS's from the early '70's; very weird wine; interesting to see where this one goes.

And to celebrate Howrd's birthday, we had a couple of stickies. Of course, serving dessert wines to Howard is very much a coals-to-Newcastle exercise:

1. The Ojai Vineyard Roll Ranch Late Harvest Viognier Hardenbergh-Tolmach (2 barrels) 1997: Med.dark gold color; rather raisened/figgy slight oxidized very grapey/passito slight earthy nose; very sweet grapey/figgy/waxy bit raisened some oaked flavor; very long soft very ripe/ grapey/figgy slight oxidized/raisened finish; not dramatically improving but quite interesting wine much like an Italian passito; no obvious Viognier character.
2. Osborne y Cia Rare Sherry Pedro Ximenez Viejo (Btl#021155) NV (1827): Black/brown color; incredible/complex molasses/pruney/raisened/creasote perfumed/complex nose; very intense/ mouthfilling figgy/raisened/pruney/molasses complex flavor; very long very intense figgy/raisened/pruney/molasses complex finish that goes on forever; absolutely incredible PX; rather overwhelming. A steal at $45.

Navarros: These wines were all the pre-release wines & prices via Howard&Rhoda Sherry.

1. Navarro wines: The Navarro wines continue to be some of the best bargins around, especially at the pre-release prices. Their GWT continues to be one of the best Alsatian-style versions made in Calif, though seldom holds a candle to an Alsatian version in the same price range. Their PinotGris, also made in an Alsatian style, is one of the better ones made in Calif, much better than the thin/anemic/severe style preferred by most others. And there dessert whites are some of the best made in Calif. However, I find a lot of their reds rather simple and lacking in character. The Pinots are usually their best, but the lower-end ones still leave me unthrilled.
2. Turley wines: I've followed the Turley wines from the very start. It's been interesting to  watch their style evolve over the yrs. They have always been on the alcoholic side; yet I don't often find that alcoholic hotness to them that I find in some lesser-alcohol Zins. They seldom show that overripe/raisened/jammy character that ones expects to find in Zins of this alcohol level. Over the yrs, I've found the wines to show less oak and much more terroir/vineyard differences than the early ones did. That is, they show less Turley winemaking and more diversity than they used to. Of this Fall release, I was most impressed in the Pringle for long term potential. It shows much of that same HowellMtn character that the early Ridges used to show; not a lot of fruit but a high acidity that allowed them to (sometimes) age into really remarkable wines.